GENERAL ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT REAFFIRMS COMMITMENT OF UNITED NATIONS TO COMBATING DESERTIFICATION AT RECIFE, BRAZIL MEETING

Press Release
GA/SM/125

GENERAL ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT REAFFIRMS COMMITMENT OF UNITED NATIONS TO COMBATING DESERTIFICATION AT RECIFE, BRAZIL MEETING

Following is the statement by the President of the General Assembly, Theo-Ben Gurirab (Namibia) to the third session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in Those Countries Experiencing Serious Drought and/or Desertification, Particularly in Africa, delivered in Recife, Brazil on 15 November:

It is a great honour and pleasure for me to be here with you at the opening ceremony of the third session of the Conference of the parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification. Allow me, at the outset, to express my deep gratitude and appreciation to Marco Maciel, Vice-President of the Republic of Brazil and through him, to the Government and the people of Brazil for the warm welcome and generous hospitality that have been extended to me and my delegation since our arrival in this beautiful city of Recife.

I have come to Recife as a fellow crusader. In a word solemnly to reaffirm the commitment of the United Nations and its General Assembly towards making the best efforts we can make collectively, to help combat the menace of desertification which is affecting hundreds of millions of people living on this planet.

This Conference is a direct follow-up to the Earth Summit, which took place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1992. I attended that historic Earth Summit, which set in motion other United Nations sponsored major Summits devoted to people-driven social agendas. Since the Rio Summit, the draft Convention to Combat Desertification went through various stages of negotiations and following its adoption entered into force in December 1996.

The Convention is now in the implementation phase. Two follow-up Conferences of the Parties to the Convention have already taken place, one in Rome in 1997, and the other last year in Dakar, Senegal. In this connection, the international community has demonstrated its vigorous commitment in support of the Convention. This has included putting in place viable pillars for ensuring a balance between economic development and the scarce natural resources available to humankind.

This commitment is further reflected at the political level. A significant number of countries have successively ratified the Convention, so

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that today there are 159 countries that have actually done so. Ambassador Arba Diallo, the Executive Secretary, has informed me that 10 more countries are in the process of finalizing their internal procedures to ratify the Convention.

By leading the way forward, the States themselves are setting a good example of how the international community is able to galvanize direct involvement towards confronting the effectively different acute challenges, such as desertification, recurrent drought and land degradation that are bedevilling concerted efforts of many countries to overcome serious problems of economic growth, wealth creation and sustainable development.

The Recife Conference, therefore, constitutes yet another important forum for States and other interested parties to reaffirm their continued dedication to combating desertification and its devastating consequences. As we all know, in Rome in 1997, the parties decided on practical ways and means to be put in place for advancing the implementation of the Convention. During the second session in Dakar, the parties launched a critical phase of action programmes, in accordance with the objectives of the Convention. It is my hope that Recife, which is occasioning the first review regarding the implementation of the Convention, will spearhead the way toward successfully carrying forward this important phase, which is essential for future activities.

Africa has been proactive partly because it is the region most affected by desertification. Its countries have submitted the first results of the implementation of the Convention. Other parties to the Convention may wish to emulate Africa’s initiative in this regard. This experience does not only reflect the positive results, but it also assesses the constraints faced by Africa. It sends a clear message to the international community as to the level of support required to address the accompanying problems in poor, developing countries.

You will pardon me if I put on the other hat as Namibian Foreign Minister. My country, Namibia, is severely affected by drought and desertification. These are not temporary but perennial problems. Back home, we know how important this Convention could be if it is fully and effectively implemented. It would indeed contribute greatly to our efforts to achieve effective environmental protection and sustainable development. This is the reason why I feel that the Recife Conference is very important for all of us gathered here today, in the interest of our respective peoples.

The peoples we represent here are expecting concrete results from this Conference to bring out change and resources that will make significant difference in the livelihood and future. We do, therefore, have an obligation to deliver a message of hope, and well-defined measures to assist the affected developing countries. I wish to reiterate that it is through coordinated efforts that we must rid the world of this major environmental and developmental problem, which knows no borders and entertains no friends among human beings.

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Our collective presence here in Recife signifies the basis for solidarity, which is an important tool for joined action and sharing of useful policies and experiences. This would very well be the way for all of us to reiterate the resolve of the international community to continue reinforcing the efforts of affected developing countries. I would, therefore, invite the developed countries, the specialized agencies, relevant non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and all other stakeholders involved in this process to discover or invent workable measures, which would promote the effective implementation of the Convention at all levels.

Implementation of the Convention must be linked to financing, technology and know-how from the international community. In this connection, I would say that the Desertification Convention stands in a rather unique position vis-à-vis what some call its sister Rio Conventions. It is also worth mentioning that the Desertification Conference is the only sustainable development Convention that does not rely on the Global Environmental Facility as its central funding mechanism. Instead, relying on the spirit of partnership, it was decided that the global mechanism will play the role of identifying, mobilizing and channelling resources for the successful implementation of the Convention. It follows from this that the global mechanism must play fully and actively its role. The mechanism should do this by ensuring that adequate resources are made available to affected developing countries to finance the chosen activities, including the elaboration of the national reports.

In the light of the above, I think that it is important for the Conference to reassure the developing countries, parties to the Convention, that, as it is the case for the other relevant Conventions, needed resources would be made available for specific developing plans under the Desertification Convention.

This is what “partnership” and “solidarity” are all about. In my capacity as the President of the General Assembly, I have an obligation to make a clarion call on this serious matter and to stress the importance of achieving progress. Indeed, if we do not take all necessary measures to ensure the same chances of success for this Convention, as we did and do for the other two related ones, namely the Convention on Climate Change and the Convention on Biological Diversity. The emerging dialogue on the imperative synergies among the Rio Conventions would be doomed to failure, if the affected developing countries complain about double-standards they believe are being applied to these Conventions.

I would like, before concluding, sincerely to thank all those who have contributed to the success of the Desertification Convention since the 1992 Rio Earth Summit. Not many people in Rio in 1992 could bet on this Convention to come up and make such significant strides within a mere seven years.

As President of the General Assembly, I would like to launch an earnest appeal to the remaining Parties to the Convention to complete the ratification process. That done, at the fourth Conference of the parties,

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all the 188 United Nations Member States would proudly announce next year that the list has been exhausted.

On my part, I will spare no effort to ensure that the international community lends its unswerving support for full and timely implementation of the Convention. There will be no sustainable development; there will be no environmental protection; there will be no improvement in the climate for future generations; there will be no preservation of the biodiversity if we, who have the best possible chance, cannot protect the earth from desertification and its political, moral, economic and social consequences.

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